Below the Surface
by Genin Sailor Aang
Summary: *NT meet fans* While on a class trip to NYC, four very different girls accidentally stumble into the universe of the 2003 series turtles. But was it truly an accident, or fate that they were brought there? DonXOC, LeoXOC, MikeyXOC RaphXOC.
1. Class Trip

_**Disclaimer: **__Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the legal property of Nickelodeon, not me. I have no ownership rights to it whatsoever. Only my OCs are mine and mine alone._

A/N: My first ever attempt at a TMNT/Cartoon story. I was inspired to make one of these after reading like a million of the other OC stories from the TMNT section. I'll do my best to improve it as I go so if it has issues, sorry. Here's chapter 1. Lemme know how it goes so far.

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Class Trip<span>

A gentle breeze caressed her face as the green eyed tourist leaned over the railing of the viewing platform looking in awe at the Statue of Liberty. The rest of her class was spread about taking pictures and short videos, gazing at it through the telescopes that were lined up for that particular purpose, and others simply stood by discussing facts and statistics about the monument. Meanwhile, the young chestnut-brown haired girl supported herself on her abdomen as she tilted a little more forward to get a closer look at the far off beacon of freedom. She was so very awestruck by the statue itself, she'd read much about it in anticipation of her coming on this trip. As well, she'd perused numerous historical photographs and watched video documentaries about it and other New York monuments on the internet. So finally being here, looking at the real article, it was almost too amazing to be real. Although it was barely possible, she managed to lean in a bit more, determined to prove to her self it was really there. She in her mind thought that if she just got a bit closer perhaps she could touch it from across the bay. In an instant her entrancement was shattered as a rough tug from behind pulled her from her perch.

The one responsible smiled back at her readjusted the strap of her backpack. "Lisa, if you try to look any closer, your gonna fall over and into the New York Bay. Then _I'm_ gonna have to get my new shirt all wet jumping in to save you." She mocked the other girl.

The Lisa blushed in slight embarrassment, then pushed back the loose stands from her face before responding. "Sorry Dawn. I just wanted to try get a good look. I want to make sure I remember every detail about it." she explained.

"That's what the camera is for." Dawn said holding up the device. "I got a lot of pictures of it from different angles. So you could look at _them_ all you want without going for a swim in polluted New York water."

Lisa took the camera and perused the images. "Alright, I get it. But I can't help being excited. I mean seriously, this is New York! The _real_ New York! The one we only ever learned about in school from Social Studies books. I never thought I'd get to see this city in person before I went to college. I just want to take in as much of it as I can as soon as possible." She spun herself around with her arms outstretched to emphasize her enthusiasm.

"I know, you've been telling me that since the airport. Back in Texas." said the other rolling her brown eyes and readjusting her medium length black braid so that it didn't press against her back anymore.

Before the other could respond further a hand was clapped on her shoulder, causing her to jump a little. "Hey Lisa! I saw how you were checking out Lady Liberty. I though only guys ogled women like that! Maybe while were here you should take the chance and marry it! But wow that's gonna be one **heck** of a honey moon! Aye Lis?" teased a girl with colorful streaks of blue in her dirty-blonde hair.

"Your a riot Rae," said Dawn rolling her eyes, "but how's about you take your jokes somewhere else. We were having a conversation before you rudely interrupted." She looked sternly at the slightly taller girl.

"Tuh, whatever fun police." replied Rae as she pushed off of Lisa and heelied away from them.

The two friends watched her go for a moment, "Can it be possible for someone her age to be _that_ immature?" rhetorically asked Dawn. "You OK Lisa? It sounded like she hit you pretty hard." she pointed to the other's shoulder.

"I'm fine Dawn. It didn't really hurt, I don't think it's even gonna turn red." replied the other shyly.

"Ok. Then do you want to take a quick picture in front of the statue before we have to leave?" Before Lisa had time to say another interruption in the form of a whistle was sounded loudly, drawing the attention of all the other students. An older woman with sunglasses holding clipboards under one of her arms brought the whistle from her lips as the group crowded around.

"Everyone, listen up." She announced loud enough for all to hear. "Make sure you have your bags and any other items your carrying with you. We're going to be heading to the hotel in 10 minutes for check in." She held up the clipboards that were labeled 'boys' and 'girls' before continuing. "But before we head out, all of you need to find your rooms on the lists. There will be four to a room, and I think it goes without saying that they're all unigender. So there should be no excuses for boys and girls to be in the same rooms at any time. Also, I don't want to hear any complaining about not getting put with your best friends. There will not be any changes to roommate arrangements made unless your chaperones decide that it is completely necessary. Otherwise, you'll have to just get along with whoever else you share your room with for the next week." When she was finished everyone uttered their agreements and the teacher handed the boards off.

Lisa and Dawn crossed their fingers as they scanned the pages and found their names. "Room #23?" asked Lisa nervously.

Dawn got a chance to look at it and traced the row where her name was with her finger to the column with the rooms. She grinned turning to Lisa, "Same."

Happily the girls exchanged high fives in a small celebration of their fortune. The two immediately began talking about how they could act like it was sleep over and stay up late, eat junk food, talk about their fandoms, and watch movies on the DVD player Dawn had packed for the long plane ride. Within the encirclement of girls still looking for their names, a groan could be heard above their clamoring.

Emerging from the circle was a very displeased looking teen, her hair crimped wavy and loose, wearing the type of garb typical of a fashion conscious young woman pushed her way out of the group. Her sandals lightly clacked on the ground as she made her way over to the two friends. A very displeased expression shown on her made-up her face. "I have to share a room with _you_?" she asked incredulously.

Dawn and Lisa looked from her to each other in disbelief. "You mean we have the same room?" Lisa said unsure.

"Are you sure, room 23?" Dawn inquired.

"Of course I'm sure. I can read!" The girl replied in irritation.

The three made their own sounds voicing their chagrin. "There go our ideas. No way Jenna the school diva will let us do any of the things we want to. The minute she hears us talking about cartoons she'll bug us to no end." groused Dawn in a whisper to Lisa.

"Maybe not. If we give her her space, she might not be so bad. Besides, it could be worse." As soon as Lisa finished saying so she was startled by a familiar smack to her shoulder. This time she was sure it would leave a red mark when she checked later. The eccentric blonde girl from earlier glanced interchangeably at the other three girls.

"Heeey roomies! Can't _wait_ for all the _fun_ we're gonna have! Hope you don't mind snoring though. Oh yeah, and sometimes I sleep talk." proclaimed Rae with a wide grin.

The news evoked yet another collective sound of displeasure from the other three. This trip had barely begun and already was turning in a direction no one had seen coming. "Alright class! Get your stuff, we're heading to the hotel." Shouted the teacher as she rallied the students to the charter bus.

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><p>AN: There you have it! My first ever chapter for this story. No mention of the Turtles yet, but that'll change by chapter 2 ^_^. Will do my best to make this good, later!


	2. You luv ninjas? I luv ninjas!

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I don't own the ninja turtles. Nick has them, not me. I also don't own Spider-man, Gargoyles, or Men In Black: The series. They are also someone else's property. Only the characters of my story belong to me._

A/N: Here's chapter 2. Sorry it's so short, I fixed it up but it still ended up pretty brief. hope ya like. ^-^

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><p><span>Chapter 2: You luv ninjas? I luv ninjas!<span>

As soon as they arrived at the hotel, the new roommates decided on who would sleep where since there were only two beds for all of them. They decided on Dawn sharing one with Rae as she was the heaviest sleeper and wouldn't be bothered too much by the noise. For the second it was the remaining two, Lisa and Jenna. Jenna was not so crazy about having to share a bed at all, but found it agreeable so long as she didn't have to share with Rae. "I need my full 8 hours of beauty sleep. If I _have_ to bunk with someone, then I _guess_ one of you nobodies will do over the 'queen-of-all-weirdness' and her snoring." stated Jenna when Dawn asked her preferences for sleeping arrangements. The room turned out to be much spacier than they had expected of it. But it became less so when the many bags, mostly Jenna's, were brought in and piled together.

"We're only gonna be here a week barbie. You didn't need to pack your entire dream house! Seriously, there's gotta be a whole wardrobe in here! And enough make up to supply an army of clowns." Mocked Rae seeing the stuffed suitcases, make-up bags, accessory bags, and bag just for her shoes.

Jenna was less than amused at her remarks. "I take pride in my appearance. Something a fashion flunkie like you wouldn't know anything about. What look _is_ that your sporting, middle school punk-ett reject?" The verbal altercation escalated from there, but thanks greatly to Dawns level headed intervention didn't continue for too long. Not too long after they cooled off enough to set up a few of their daily necessities through out the room.

As soon as they were all done the girls had dinner and then the students were gathered in lobby and made to hear the instructions of the various Chaperones. They were given the guidelines on what is and is not acceptable behavior while staying at the hotel. It was brief because everyone was exhausted from the long day and soon everyone was dismissed to retire to their rooms for the night.

Jenna had taken a shower and was already dressed for sleep around 8 pm. Since it was still a little early she watched TV flipping the channels between a couple of reality shows. Rae on the other hand was on her phone messing with her Facebook, uploading that days pictures of herself around the city and telling all of her 800 or so friends about how cool her first day was in the Big Apple.

Taking advantage of the quiet time, Lisa and Dawn leaned against the wall at the head of Jenna and Lisa's bed conversing in whispers to keep the topic of their talk confidential. "I still can't believe this. Of all the girls we could've been boarded with, how did we end up with Jenna and Raechel? Both of them make me _really_ uncomfortable. Especially now that they've become mortal enemies." said Lisa.

"Yeah I don't like this either, but we can't really do anything about it. The chaperones said that there was no one who would want to switch with us. We just have to make the best of it and get through the week." said Dawn.

"*sigh* At least we have each other. If I had to be stuck with either one or both alone, I would've jumped into the New York Bay on purpose!" exaggerated Lisa.

"Same here. I already get enough of this kind of immaturity at home. I'm glad that if I have deal with it here too that I've got at least one ally. But, it does kinda suck that we can't have an away-from-home sleepover party like we wanted to."

"At least we can still read fanfictions and talk about fandom stuff to each other." Lisa pointed out trying to be optimistic.

"That's true. Speaking of which, why don't we stay up late and go out on the roof tonight." suggested Dawn with a smirk.

Lisa furrowed her brows in confusion, "Why?"

"Why else! So we can watch out for the gargoyles of course. If we get out there early enough I bet Goliath will take us flying with his clan." she stated with a silly grin. Lisa chucked a little at the imagination.

"You can go with Goliath, I'll take Brooklyn and braid his hair while he's too busy trying to fly to stop me." They stifled a giggled as they envisioned the event in their own minds. Unknowingly the noise of their amusement was drawing some glances from other occupants of the room. "How's about after they have to leave in the morning we head over to MIB for breakfast with Jay and Kay."

"No. Not a good idea, the Worms would probably attack one of us if we tried to pour ourselves a cup of coffee." Lisa said pretending to be serious.

"That's why I'll tell Spiderman to come over first and web them to the wall." Dawn countered with a 'like-duh', attitude.

"Ha ha, then when we're done we could ask him to drop us off on a rooftop back in Manhattan and hang out there until we find some ninjas." Lisa rubbed her hands together calculatingly.

"About four? Green and reptilian in appearance? Multicolored ninja masks? All dudes?" specified Dawn.

"Those are the ones. We can finish our perfectly cartoony day with rooftop hopping with the ninja turtles, and maybe get to have a fight with some foot and PDs along the way." This made both of them laugh a little more loudly as they pictured the fictional event of them with the turtle brothers beating up Dragons and Foot left and right. Shouting turtle ketch phrases and making lame punchlines as they battled the ruthless gang members and Shredder minions. "I'll finally get to use that line when the Shredder shows up at end of the battle. 'You may have ninjas and pointy blades shredder, but I know your one weakness. A cup of orange coolaid!' Then I'll throw it in his face and he'll die." Said Lisa doing the voice effect and off que lip movement like that of an old badly dubbed kung fu movie. Both couldn't help letting their laughs escape in loud spurts at the inside joke regarding an incident involving Lisa, 5 years old at the time, and an overfilled cup of juice that shorted out her parents paper shredder.

"Then we will stand heroically on the tallest building in the city as the turtles bask in our awesome greatness! It will be a greater victory than any ninja turtle from any universe had ever seen before!" finished Dawn in a voice of fake triumph. At last they burst into a fit of chortles unable to restrain their goofiness any longer.

But the girls were disturbed from their merriment when a loud thump could be heard from the other bed. Rae had jumped up from her sitting position and was staring at them in confounded. "Did you say turtles? As in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" she asked vociferously.

Both Dawn and Lisa were surprised not having known that during their lighthearted daydream that they were talking loudly enough for to Rae hear them from the other side of the room. It took a second before Dawn responded, "Yeah."

Rae's face lit up at the reply. "That's **awesome! **I LOVE that cartoon! I mean, I have all the movies from the 90s, DVD's of the 2003 series, the DVD of the 07 movie, most of the action figures, a bunch of shirts, posters, and hoodies with their pictures on them! I even got all the voice actors of the '03 series' and the '07 movies' autographs and pictures framed on my wall!" She proudly confessed counting the items fingers.

Dawn was dumbstruck by the time Rae had finished. She was not only surprised to find out that she and the over hyperactive girl had actually something in common, but also to discover the extent of her obviously advanced level of fandom. Lisa on the other hand was overjoyed to find out they shared a passion for the TMNT and was as well thoroughly impressed with all the forenamed Turtle related things she described as owning.

"You are so lucky!" Lisa replied enviously, "All I have so far is the '07 movie game and movie on DVD. But when I got them I watched the movie every weekend for a month."

"Really? I went to see the movie in theaters 9 times, including the premier date. The manager started calling me 'the Turtle girl'!" Rae added. She walked over to the two and plopped down on the matrice.

"Cool. So which one is your favorite?" asked Lisa.

"You kidding? Leonardo! I love a turtle with power. Yours?"

Lisa shyly grinned, "I like Leo too."

Rae then turned to Dawn. "What about you?"

Uncertainly, the other replied. "Raphael..."

"Yeah, he's ok. But Leo's so the number one turtle brother! Am I right?" she declared turning back to Lisa.

"You bet! Bushido all the way!" Lisa and Rae exchanged an agreeing high five.

"What about your #2, I got Mikey. Comedians are my second weakness. Dawn?" Rae asked.

"Leo's my second." Dawn answered plainly.

Lisa thought about her response, "Um...I think Donatello. He has cool staff moves and an insanely huge IQ. Its like 120 genius or something."

"Actually, 140 and over are when you qualify as 'genius' and based on his obvious capability with engineering and the sciences he's easily within if not above that range." All eyes fell on Jenna who after making the statement froze, eyes growing wide, turning slowly from the TV screen to the three others. She nervously met the gaze of the other girls from her place at sitting at the head of the bed. "Uh...My little brother tried to tell me something about that like hundred times, he's all into that show. I don't really care about the TMNN- whatevers myself." She plastered a smile at them nervously twirling her hair. In the few seconds of silence and continued stares that followed, she rushed pull out her I-pod from her bag beside the bed and plugged in the head phones trying instead to focused on her playlist.

"Ok...Well anyway, I luv fearless leader Leo." refocused Rae from the strange moment, much to Jenna's silent relief.

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><p>AN: Once more, sorry it it sounded really short. There will be more interaction along the way, but here's where the Turtles get some first acknowledgement. Please tell me what you thought. :-)


	3. Bad Day

_**Disclaimer: **I do not have the rights to the Ninja Turtles, its characters, or any other characters from Disney or Nick that are mentioned in this story. I have nothing...Except for my OCs._

I had a hard time getting back to this story with the transition into college. Sorry if you thought I was dead T_T. Will try to do more but may take a bit. Thanks for checking out my story ^_^!

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><p><span>Chapter 3: Bad Day<span>

Two days after their arrival in New York, the roommate situation was doing far better. Since finding out they were kindred TMNT fans, Rae spent nearly all her time with Lisa and Dawn talking about the Turtles. She and Lisa interacted the most within the new trio though, since Dawn was still not so used to the blonde's overly eccentric demeanor. As well Dawn still had to act as a mediator for Rae and Jenna whenever they clashed, which only happened on 3 other occasions since the first time, but never got further than a few angry words. Jenna herself, still rude and judgmental, normally tried to stay away from the other girls whenever they were with the rest of the class and only ever spoke to the them to comment negatively on the way they dressed and wore make up.

"I swear I am this close to going Leonardo on her ra-ra girl butt! Maybe no one will notice if when we get to the top she's 'accidentally' tossed over the gate." Rae fumed in a whisper to the other two as they rode the elevators up the tall building with a couple others from the class and their chaperones.

"Don't let her get to you so much Rae, if you just ignore the stuff she says then she'll back off." advised Dawn.

"I wish she'd 'back off' the edge of the roof! I wanna see her try to hide _those _marks with a concealer." continued to grouse the girl.

Shaking her head a bit at the aggravated peer, Dawn didn't say anything in return. Although she didn't have to worry about it much more anyway as they at quickly they reached their predestinated level and the elevator doors dinged open. Everyone was eager to go and stare out the windows seeing the entire city for miles around. The three girls had to try finding a space for themselves to see for themselves as there were far more people than just the class visiting the landmark. Numerous other tourist and locals were crowding up and down the observation deck, some pushed the past the girls as they tried to walk around the platform. "Hey! Watch it you dumb bastard!" shouted Rae at some young men that shoved past her. It caused some heads to turn and even startled the guys who hurried to get away from the angered girl.

"Ms. Nolan! That's inappropriate. This is your first warning!" called out their chaperon from where she stood chatting with another groups chaperone.

"Rae!" demanded Dawn under her breath, "There's kids here, watch your language." She told the still upset blonde.

"Yes teacher." sarcastically agreed Rae with a mocking goody two shoes expression.

"Come on you guys, let's check out the city." urged Lisa trying to lead them to the side so they could take in the view.

After they at last got to an open space at the windows, the girls were in awe, taking out their phones and cameras to snap shots of the landscape where they could see rows of tall buildings and their roof tops as they stretched out towards the river. After getting their photographic fill the amazing view, the girls then took the time to get picture mementos of themselves to further remember their visit to the soaring building. "Dawn, take one of me and Lisa with my phone." requested Rae handing over her I-phone. Dawn took the device, nodding in agreement. It took a second or two of fumbling with the screen to find out how to snap the picture, then she was able to take a couple good images of the two girls smiling goofily and making peace signs. When they were done Dawn handed the device back to Rae.

"Now get one of me and Dawn." then asked Lisa to Rae.

"Sure." Agreed Rae then taking the digital camera from Dawn. The two best buds posed with an arm around the others' shoulder, leaning back on the rail behind them holding themselves up with the free arm. "Say Ninja Turtles!" Rae told them with a fan-girl grin.

"Ninja Turtles!" happily said the duo as the flash flooded their eyes. The estranged fourth roommate, upon hearing the words, let out an irritated huff and rolled her grey eyes for about the millionth time that day. Standing only a couple spaces down in the moderately noisy observatory, she was still unable to keep her ears from picking up the phrase. Wanting to drown out any further references they could make, she decided to immerse her auditory senses with the tunes in her music player and gazed more intensely out to the city below.

She had left the shuffle on her I-pod so that she wouldn't leave any space for the music to stop and potential chatter of, 'they who shall not be mentioned', to get through. Yet with caution she occasionally turned around every few minutes to be sure not to lose track of her group or the chaperone, and observed the movement of their lips in case they should direct them it was time to leave. She did this for a time period of over 30 minutes, finding her chaperone mostly since she wore a neon green cap that made her easier to see among the many people who came and went on the observation deck. She would as well checked the time after a certain number of songs, knowing they would not be there very long as they were also going to the Ripley's Museum that day at 3.

(About 20 minutes later) Soon, the hour they were given there had passed, and chaperons gathered the students to board the elevator so they could hurry and meet the bus outside when it arrived. Dawn, Rae, and Lisa were herded into the second to last elevator trip with about 5 other people including the chaperon and a random tourist or two. In a much happier mood going down then they went up, none noticed until they reached the bottom and started getting out that there was someone not there who should be.

Lisa looked about at the people getting out, she of course recognized most of her classmates, but was intrigued to see that one girl in particular wasn't there. "Um, guys." She said to the other two girls.

"Yeah?" questioned Dawn noticing the strange look on Lisa's face.

"Where's Jenna? She was supposed to come down with us." Lisa then pointed out. At the mention of it, the other two looked around.

"Oh yeah, beauty queen isn't here." Rae commented looking through the faces of the other classmates that were gathered in the lobby. "She must've jumped over the deck and flew off on her broom stick. Come on guys don't worry about it. I bet she's coming down with one of the other groups." brushed off the girl already heading towards the gathering class. But she only took a couple of steps before she was stopped by Dawn grabbing onto her shoulder.

"Hold on Rae, let's just make sure she comes down." directed the smaller girl.

"I _guess_." Rae replied like an impatient kid. The three then waited by the elevators, watching until the doors opened and the last batch of classmates poured out. As each female face emerged from the metal box, they waited to find and identify the one made up heavily like the cover of a fashion magazine that would sink into a condescending frown upon seeing them.

"Do you see her?" asked Lisa to Dawn.

"No, what about you Rae?" she then directed to the height superior teen.

"Nope, I don't see her or her ginormous purse anywhere."

"Awe man, she must still be up there." assumed Dawn when the group dissipated still with not a hint of Jenna in sight. Dawn glanced back, checking one more time at the group behind her to be sure she was not among them. When made certain she then took out her phone and looked at the time. "4 minutes." She said to herself remembering the bus was supposed to come at 3 sharp.

"What do you think we should do Dawn?" wondered Lisa seeing the other girl was thinking up something.

"The elevators are pretty fast, and I think I remember seeing Jenna when we were walking around the deck. There's still a little time before the bus leaves so it should be ok if we just go get her really quick then come back. Come on you guys, I need you to help me so we find her in time." The girl strategized.

"What about the teachers?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah GI Jenny, are we supposed to ditch the group without saying anything?" Rae inquired.

"We aren't ditching. Like I said we'll hurry up and get Jenna. If they get mad I'll take full blame, but we have to make sure she doesn't get left behind. Alright." she said to the other two.

"Ok." agreed Lisa.

"Aye-aye commander." saluted Rae in a mock army fashion.

"Come on." then directed Dawn as the other two followed her back onto the elevators. A number of other tourists pushed them to the back as the doors closed. In no time at all they returned to the observation deck they'd left only moments before. "Quick, split up and find her." Dawn told the others as the crowd dissipated letting them out. Lisa went to the left, Rae to the right, and Dawn went straight to the place where she'd seen Jenna earlier. She wasn't there anymore, but Dawn looked about in the surrounding area and at every female chocolate brunette to see if the body attached was wearing the clothes Jenna had put on that day. She rushed to scan over every girl she spotted until at last, she saw one that matched the hair style, clothes, and shoes combination she was looking for. "Jenna!" she called out to the girl. Yet said young lady kept on looking ahead staring out the glass of the observatory. "Jenna!" Dawn tried again. After being ignored once more, Dawn approached the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. "Jenna, hey." She said again as at last the teen turned to her. In her ears were headphones that she pulled out so as to hear the girl in front of her.

"What?" she asked rather annoyed.

"Come on, we have to leave. The rest of the class already went down to the lobby." Dawn told her disregarding the attitude.

"Yeah _right_. Ms. Chelsea is still standing over there, I can see her from…" she trailed off as the woman who she'd believed was their chaperone turned around and turned out to instead be a completely different person with a similar hat. "Oh no." she then said looking at Dawn with worry.

"We gotta go." further persuaded Dawn leading her to the elevators. Dawn at the same time took out her phone and typed in a fast message to Lisa letting her know she found their other roommate.

Upon getting the message Lisa then turned back from her search and grabbed Rae who had been walking in her direction and told her about the message as they also headed to the elevators. The girls met up and got in together. Dawn checked her phone to see if they were still in time, "2 minutes before the bus comes." She said to the others.

"No way! I set my phone to go off 5 minutes before." Jenna asserted checking her I-phone's alarm settings. The time was there and the vibrate setting was still active, yet as she looked a little closer she realized that she made a significant oversight. "2:55 am!" she read aloud staring at the letters with shock.

"Awe, Barbie forgot how to tell time." tauntingly said Rae with a fake pity voice. "Am means morning, Pm is afternoon. I'm a blond, and even _I_ know that."

"Shut up caterpillar brows! The only reason I put the wrong one is because your sleep talk kept me up and made me all groggy when I set it this morning!" she spit back at the girl.

"_As if!_ You were groggy because you got up at 5 in the morning just to decide what outfit to wear!" rebutted Rae.

Before they could argue about it any further, the elevator opened up and they were ushered out by Dawn. "Later you guys. Get going!" she ordered charging forward as the other riders passed through the doorway. The two putting their argument on pause, they together made their way past random strangers towards the lobby.

"Awe shell, where's our class?" Rae questioned seeing the group was no longer there. Not wasting any time wondering Dawn made her way at a speedy walking pace to the exit, the others still right behind her. Upon walking out the building and looking down the street in front of the Empire State, she spotted the charter bus they were supposed to be taking with the class already starting to pull away from the curb.

"Hey!" yelled Dawn running towards the bus and waving frantically. When the others saw this, they too started running, waving their arms and jumping up and down in an attempt to flag down the driver.

"Hey wait up! Stop! We're still here! Stop! You can't leave us here!" They all called out as the bus continued to drive further down West 34th street and to their dismay only kept on going. Within less than a couple of minutes it was no more than a dot in the distance, then they lost sight of it as more cars passed through obstructing the faraway outline of the vehicle.

With a bit of labored breathing the girls stopped their running, realizing that they were not going to be fast enough no matter how quickly they ran. "We're stranded here now!" shouted Jenna in exasperation.

"No we're not. Someone just has to call one of the others on the bus and tell them they forgot us." Dawn directed mostly Jenna and Rae.

"I can't! I used up all my minutes! I have to wait till Friday before I get more." Jenna replied with aggravation.

"I don't have anyone from the class's numbers. I don't even have their Facebooks." Rae uneasily told Dawn.

"Dawn?" the now very anxiety written Lisa squeaked.

"Don't start getting all worked up you guys." She tried to assure the others.

"Don't get worked up! Were in New York and no one knows were even gone! How do you expect us _not_ to get worked up over this?!" shouted Jenna incredulously.

"_Because_, we can still get back to the class. We know exactly where they're going and we all have GPS in our phones. All we have to do is use them to get directions and walk there. We're definitely going to be late, but at least when we get there we can talk to someone at the front and let them know we're looking for our group." again reasoned Dawn, seeming to calm the infuriated diva and the uncertain other two girls.

"Sounds like a plan. By all means, lead the way Fearless Leader." The much calmer Rae spoke up adding in a TMNT reference.

Pulling out her phone, Dawn opened her apps and found the Navigator, she typed in the name of their destination and put in the walking option. Within a few seconds the directions appeared on the screen and an electronic voice spoke. "Head northwest on 34th street."

"This way." Dawn stated starting down the sidewalk.

"Yeah we heard." grumpily remarked Jenna striding beside her. The four of them, sticking close together, began the down the sidewalk on the instructions given by the device.

(10 minutes later) By now the girls were already supposed to be more than half way done with the trek, but due to the fashion choices of a certain individual within the group, (cough cough) Jenna (cough cough), they were behind projected time as they had to break every so often to rest.

"Oh, _good_ idea wearing stilts when you knew you'd be on your feet all day. Hurry up and relieve your arches Jenny! We're already gonna be in deep shitake when we eventually get there._ If_ we get there this **year**." badgered Rae as Jenna pulled off her high heels to massage her aching feet.

"Don't call me Jenny, **Raymond**." sneered the brunette.

"That's a boy's name airhead. My full name is **Rachel**." responded Rae with a matter of faculty demeanor.

"Boy do I have egg on my face," sarcastically replied Jenna, "You're so mannish looking that all this time I'd assumed you were a drag queen."

"You little-, you know Jenna I saw a shop back there that sold broom sticks. If we hurry back you can get yourself a ride so you won't mangle your _hag_ feet anymore."

"Come a little closer and I'll kick your ass with these _perfectly pedicured_ feet!"

"I'd like to see you try Miss Priss! I could really use a laugh." continued to goad Rae as the two started to get into a catfight ready pose.

"Rae, Jenna, please stop that!" meekly requested Lisa of the two agitated females.

"We don't have time for a throw down girls, if you don't want to miss the class completely we need to pick up the pace." Dawn assertively told them.

"Fine, but when we do have time you're gonna get it." warned Rae still glowering.

"Back at you." returned Jenna just as resentfully. Jenna then put back on her heels and the girls started once more down Broadway.

The quartet walked in silence for a short time after that. Jenna stayed closer behind Dawn as Lisa and Rae were a few paces behind them walking side by side, both of the feuding girls ensuring to keep adequate space between themselves and the infuriating other. Lisa felt a bit awkward seeing Rae still with a frown and furrowed brows to her right. She tried to think of something to say that could help pass sometime and preoccupy Rae from whatever spiteful thoughts she might be having at the moment. As she did so, she recalled their location and let out a small chuckle. "This is kinda funny…the street we're on now, it's one of the places in New York that they named one of the gargoyles after. From the kinda old cartoon Gargoyles." offhandedly mentioned Lisa.

"I didn't really watch that show too much as a kid. So I don't know which one is which, just that the red one with long white hair was who my cousin dressed up as for Halloween." She replied starting to come out of her mood.

"That's awesome!" she proclaimed with gentle enthusiasm. "That one's name is Brooklyn. He has the same voice actor as Johnny Bravo." informed Lisa.

"Wow, that's weird. I woulda never guessed that Johnny Bravo used to be a big red flying dinosaur guy." said Rae with intrigue.

"If you think that's weird, Broadway, the blue chubby one that's named after this street, his voice actor does Patrick."

"No way!" Rae quietly exclaimed, "Man where do you learn this stuff Lis?"

"I like to look up random information in my spare time. I found it on a website about the show."

"Hmm…I wonder who else the Turtle's voice actors have done?" thought Rae again reverting to Ninja turtles. Before Lisa had a chance to relay any further information to the matter, she was interrupted by an angry groan from Jenna.

"Oh my gawd! Can't you guys find something else other than old cartoons and the Ninja Turtles franchise to talk about?" complained the slightly limping teen.

"We weren't talking to you Jenna! You can tune us out with that stupid music player if you have a problem because we aren't gonna stop talking about TMNT just because you snap your fingers and demand it." Rae rebuffed.

"My I-pods' dead, I have no choice but to hear everything you say in your rather _loud_ conversations." she groused to the other.

"We aren't being loud. _You're_ eavesdropping so you can have something to complain about. Well here's something for you to overhear, go be a diva somewhere else! We're all tired of your endless negativity and pissy little comments. I mean _seriously_, do you have to be PMSing 24/7?"

"_Ah_! I am **not** a diva! And if anything you guys are just _way_ too sensitive about the constructive criticism that I generously give you nerds so you can at least have a chance at looking half decent. If you put in some effort at fixing those problems I helpfully point out then you could- AAH!" hollered Jenna as a shady looking man with tattoos up his arm darted out from behind a building and tried to snatch her handbag.

"Jenna!" cried out Lisa catching Dawn's attention. Although the shortest of the four girls, fiercely Dawn charged towards the thug and reaching into her pocket. Once she whipped out the item she was looking for she flipped off the top and sprayed the punk in the face. The would be thief, now caught off guard by the burning of his eyes and airways, let Jenna's bag go giving the girls a chance to flee. "That was so scary! We almost got mugged!" shouted Lisa as they kept on running.

"I hate to say this Lisa, but I think we still might get mugged! That guy has a bunch of angry buddies that are coming our way!" Rae announced to the others as she looked back seeing more tattooed street punks follow directing gestures of the one who got maced in their direction.

"Damn it! Where's the friggen NYPD when you need them?!" shouted Jenna trying to not stumble in her heels.

While they ran, Dawn's mind was in full evasion tactic mode, thinking only of finding a way to get the criminals off their tails. Her first idea was to use a fire escape, but didn't last long as she noticed that the ladders were too high off the ground to reach quickly and that Jenna would more than likely kill herself trying to climb them in her heels. Next, came the thought of running into a store and hoping that them being around more people would scare them away. But upon seeing that there were a lot of families in the stores they passed, she dropped that idea not wanting to drag more civilians into the situation should the thugs prove to more violent. Then, she thought maybe they could just take the chance and run through traffic, maybe they'd give up thinking they were crazy. Once again she dismissed that notion, believing it to be way too dangerous to chance going head on with New York drivers.

Somehow the girls managed to get ahead of the crooks, they turned the street corner leaving them a ways behind. Yet seeing as they had already chased them half way across Broadway in broad day light, they all had no doubt that the offenders would be on them soon.

"Into the alley!" Dawn directed as the girls turned with her. Once inside, they unfortunately discovered that it was a dead end.

"What do we do now, we're trapped!" Jenna demanded in a frightened panic.

Looking up and down Dawn didn't see anything they could hide behind and nowhere else to go but the way they came in. In no time the thugs would be on them and turning back now would mean they'd end up running down the sidewalk again until they were caught by the persistent ruffians. As she took a step back searching her mind for a solution Dawn realized that there was something hard and metal under her feet. Glancing down, she discovered it was a manhole cover. "Guys. I have a plan. But you're not gonna like it." She told them as she stepped further back still staring at the metal plate.

Jenna, noticing the item she had her eyes on, began an attempt to protest. "Oooh no! No way I'm going into the dirty, smelly, germy New York sewers. Forget it!"

"It's either **this** or we get killed by those goons! I'm going with Dawn on this one, come one Lisa help me pry this off." sided Rae with the ever authoritative young woman.

She, Lisa, and Dawn all began trying to pull at the metal cover. With their combined effort and pumping adrenaline the girls got the cover off quickly. Looking into the pitch black hole, the girls let out disgusted sounds and held their noses at the awful odor that emitted from the circular entrance.

"Awe! Nasty!" revolted Rae at the smell.

"No time to get used to it, hurry!" rushed Dawn as she first started climbing down. Upon seeing her descent so easily, Lisa too then moved down the ladder and into the darkness. Rae was next to follow them, but before she was all the way down called after the still hesitant Jenna.

"Come on! Before they find us!" she ushered worriedly after the other. Jenna, knowing Rae was right, glanced fearfully down the alley entrance. She then scurried into the hole and down the metal ladder as fast as she could move with her clumsy heels. She then took the subsequent precaution to pull the lid back over the top of the hole just as she had gotten low enough to submerge her head below ground. When it clanked closed, the entire tunnel went completely black…

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><p>AN: I spent a bunch of time trying to write this, if there are errors I missed than feel free to tell me. I hope it was entertaining enough for you, thank you for reading :-)


	4. Major Detour

_**Disclaimer:** Nickelodeon owns the TMNT and I do not. The characters and the cartoon series aren't mine, b/c I don't have lawyers like they do, bla bla, no lawsuits._

A/N: For those of you already expecting it, yes this is where there happens some OC & TMNT character interaction. But admittedly this one ended up pretty long, I had many ideas for this and this was the result of some refining. Here ya go :-)

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><p><span>Chapter 4: Major Detour<span>

After having had what was easily the worst day they'd ever known, the four high school girls from Texas stood huddled together in the darkness of the New York sewer they'd escaped into after being pursued by street ruffians. All of them, still very shaken, tried to be as quiet as possible. None taking the chance that even though the cover was on and the street was noisy, that they could be heard by the thugs that had attacked them should they come towards the alley where the manhole was. The dripping sounds of the damp sewer and occasional scurrying sounds of vermin only served to heighten their anxiety as every noise they thought could be one of the thugs that somehow knew where they'd gone and followed them into the tunnels. All but one of them had to restrain small gasps and startled noises whenever their ears picked up a squeak or distant splash that would echo through the shadows. They had only been there for about 5 long drawn minutes, when a sharp beeping noise gave them all to jolt.

"What was that?!" nearly shouted Jenna eyes widening in the cloak of darkness.

"It's ok." Dawn assured reaching into her pocket, "That was just my phone, its dying." she told them holding up the lighted screen for them to see. She then held down the button to shut the device off, causing the small screen to fade out as it digitally sang the farewell jingle.

"Be quiet! They'll hear us!" lowly hollered Rae.

"They will if you don't keep your voice down!" Dawn more quietly rebuked of the unseen girl. "Hold on for a little longer, when they can't find us they'll leave and we can get going again." Dawn reassured her and the other two calmly.

"Good to hear, because the smell of this place is starting to make me queasy." Lisa remarked in a constrained hushed voice.

"No kidding! I've had to smell my brother's jersey once after a long game in the hot sun when he forgot to use deodorant, but compared to this _that _was like fresh cut roses!" Rae shared letting out a disgusted gack.

"Don't talk about the smell, I'm trying to think of something else so I _don't_ have to remember that I'm in a human waste pit!" Jenna requested while restraining her breathing.

The girls then drifted back into a period of complete guarded silence in the lightless tunnel, attentively tuning their ears to the surface level above them. They only sometimes made the tiniest of noises from where they stood as they shuffled their feet on the concrete ground from restlessness. But, as there continued to be no signs from above that they were going to be discovered, they slowly began to let themselves feel more at ease.

Her thought process starting to regulate to its normal flow after racing for such a long time, Rae silently began to contemplate ideas related to the predicament and place they were in. Soon, a particular notion popped into her mind that caught her full focus and curiosity. Rae, being the ever talkative person she is, was not able to resist the need to share it with the others.

"Hey, Dawn." Rae entreated.

"What?" asked Dawn not as whisperingly as before.

"You think while we're down here we'll see the-" but Rae's question was cut short.

"I swear if you say the ninja turtles I'm gonna push you into the waste water!" warned Jenna still holding back her breath.

"_Rude much_." she directed at Jenna with attitude. "No. I was _gonna_ say if we might see the New York sewer gators." she then finished.

"Don't be ridiculous Rae. That's just an urban legend. You'd have a better chance of seeing big foot or the Loch Ness monster." responded Dawn dismissively.

"…Actually Dawn, I've seen investigations about it on the discovery channel before, and they _did_ find some. Some of them have even adapted into albino gators because of the darkness." piped in Lisa.

"See! I knew it!" bragged Rae at the information.

"That's not exactly something to be happy about reptile junkie! In case you haven't noticed we're_ in_ a New York sewer. Which means one could be right next to us and we wouldn't even know it because we can't see!" Jenna supplied with strong discontent.

"…Oh...right." Rae replied sounding frightened.

"You don't need to worry about that you guys. I didn't see any gators when we climbed down." refuted Dawn to Jenna's statement.

"I don't think I did either." Lisa added in support of her friend.

"Of _course_ you wouldn't have seen them. Alligators are experts at staying well hidden in the water. They can be sitting there right near the surface when an animal comes to drink from a lake or pond and can go undetected up until their face to face with their prey. But by the time the animal finally sees them, WHAM!" Jenna shouted giving the girls a jolt. "They'll snap their jaws shut and rip the animal to pieces!" she concluded menacingly.

"Cut it out Jenna that's not funny!" Lisa complained getting increasingly nervous from where she was closest to the water.

"That's not true! You're lying so you can freak us out, right Dawn?" Rae asserted also becoming on edge and looking, so to speak, to the other girl for assurance.

"Um, to be honest Rae, that sounds a lot like something I saw once in a science class video. How do you know so much about alligator hunting habits Jenna?" the now somewhat shaky voiced Dawn inquired.

"Me? I, uh, had to do a project about it once. What's it to _you_?" Jenna defensively answered in return. Just then, a somewhat noisy splash echoed in the darkness.

"Did you hear that splash?! Oh my gawd what's moving in the water?!" Rae questioned her voice getting higher.

"I-I don't know. It's too dark." Dawn replied trying to keep from sounding alarmed.

"It's gotta be a rat! They have tons of them down here." tried to insinuate Lisa although not hiding her own growing unease.

"Rat's don't swim! That's _not_ a rat! It's an animal that can move in the water! Like a **gator**!" Rae refuted with frightened resilience.

"Stop it Rae! Take a deep breath and calm down. You're getting panicky." tried to convince Dawn still with a trepidant tone.

"Shell _yes_ I'm panicky! There's a cold blooded carnivorous **monster** in here that's looking at us like a four course meal! It's got huge razor sharp teeth that it'll use to tear into us like Wednesday crunchy tacos! It's gonna pick us off one at a time without any of us knowing the others are getting eaten until it's our turn and we're the ones getting mauled! And every second I'm talking to you is a second it's getting closer and trying to decide which one it's gonna gnaw on _first_!"

"Oook, now you're freaking me out." Jenna quivered with a frightful gulp at the vicious description. "I vote we all get the _heck_ out of here. It's probably been long enough right?" She suggested. Silently in agreement with Jenna, the others moved their feet sticking close to the dirty wall to approach the ladder. Being the closest to the metal ladder, Jenna fumbled around trying to find it against the wall with her fingertips. Since it was so dark, she didn't realize that on the step she was about to grab on to, there was a small sewer dwelling vermin that had scurried onto the structure and was sitting there grooming its fur. Already on pins and needles, Jenna unknowingly poked the creature with her long nail, causing it to let out a loud startled screeching noise that echoed vociferously in the dark.

At the occurrence, Jenna let out a shrill scream as she quickly retracted her hand. Then out of instinct she tried to get away from the creature. "Jenna! Wait!" shouted Dawn after her as they heard her heels clack away from them deeper into the darkness.

"I touched it! I **touched** it! Ew ew ew!" she wailed while trying to rub the sensation of its dirtied damp fur from her hand onto her pants and blouse. The other three did their best to keep her pace, not exactly sure how far she was getting in the perpetual darkness, while attempting as well to persuade her to stop. She ignored them and continued to get farther away, until that is they heard her cry out as if she'd taken a tumble. The others soon found out why when they themselves came to a cut off from the concrete ledge and plunged into disgusting water. One at a time they all found themselves wading knee deep in a pool of polluted liquid and sludge. "EWWWW! It's all over me! Get it **off**!" whined Jenna in complete abhorrence as she shook the gunk off of her hands and wiped a filthy droplet from her cheek.

"Oh **gross**! I think I'm gonna **puke**!" announced Rae then making the sickened hacking noises.

"Don't throw up on me I'm right next to you!" Lisa squealed.

"Where?! I can't see a friggen thing." Rae asked trying to squint through the bleakness.

"Ah! What just touched my back?!" shouted Jenna at a sudden contact.

"I think that was me. _Bleh_." Rae replied still trying to hold in her lunch.

"Where's the ledge? Anybody see it?" Lisa asked trying to move in an unknown direction to find her way back up.

"Over here? No wait over here? Um, where's where we came from?" Dawn tried to guess also getting quite confused about their surroundings.

"_I don't know_! Hurry up and find the edge somebody! I want to get out of this stuff!" Jenna told the others as the unknown gunk invaded her footwear.

"_Oh_ and you think the rest of us want to go swimming in this crud? We all want out in case you haven't noticed!" Rae snapped back upon hearing the complaint.

"It's no use like this. We need a light. Who has a flashlight app?" Dawn requested still unable to pinpoint where the others were.

"I do Dawn! Hold up!" replied Rae as she found her shorts pocket. Quickly she accessed the required application, her phone's screen giving away her position as she did, and once the LED was activated it glowed brightly in the otherwise bleak tunnel. It illuminating the entire area revealing the positions of all the others scattered around. Gaining her sight back Dawn turned around towards the light, having had her back to the others previously, and the group converged to wade towards one of the ledges among those surrounding them in the four way intersection of tunnel. None of which they were able to tell was the one they'd originally come from as they all looked pretty much the same in complete darkness.

"Uh!" Jenna cried almost slipping on the ledge in her wet shoes.

"You ok?" Lisa asked her after Jenna caught the wall stopping herself.

"No! I am not ok! I'm wet, and smelly, and dirty, and now we're not only lost in New York, but lost in its alligator infested sewer!" she shouted antagonistically at the soft spoken girl.

"Leave Lisa alone. It's not her fault we're down here." Dawn came to her friends rescue.

"Oh, you're right." She contemptuously agreed, "**You **are the one who told us to hide in here! So it's **you **who owes me the $80 for heels, plus another $115 for pants that need to be replaced because of **your** idiotic escape plan! I hope your proud of yourself queen of the looser tribe." She spoke down to the young woman.

"Back off her wicked witch!" Rae intercepted getting between Dawn and Jenna. "If it wasn't for **you** and your _stupid _overpriced heels _Jenna_, then we would've been at the Ripley Museum half an hour ago instead of getting targeted by some dirt bag mugger after that huge target sign of a purse you're carrying! If you wanna go around blaming anyone for our situation _you_ should blame _yourself_ for not packing any practical clothes and accessories in that mountain of suitcases you hauled on the plane!" spited back Rae to the tantrum throwing peer.

"I wouldn't have needed any boring tasteless things like _you guys_ if your precious little leader hadn't made us miss the bus in the first place!" Jenna countered.

"She made us-" disbelievingly repeated Rae, "You know what mega diva! If Dawn hadn't had us go look for you at the Empire State building, I would have just got on the bus and left your butt **behind**! Then when you finally came out of Lala land and figured out you were stranded, _you_ would've had to walk _all by yourself_ and get beat down, or worse, by that mugger and his crew! If anything you should be _thanking_ Dawn for not abandoning you, even though you're a total raving **B-I-T-C-H**!" Rae shot back to the glaring brunette.

"You wanna repeat that freak?!" Jenna growled at the blonde her manicured hands balling up into a fist.

"Why? Can't put the letters together in your peanut sized cheerleader brain? I said, you are a spoiled, whiney, prissy, superficial, self-centered, no boobed little-"

"Guys." Lisa interrupted.

"WHAT?!" demanded both enraged females at the neutral girl.

"There's a light down there." Dawn spoke for Lisa as she had been made speechless by the hostile question. Looking over to where Dawn was pointing, the other two spotted a glowing that resembled daylight off in the very far off distance of the tunnel to their right.

"Is that a way out?" Rae asked aloud.

"It _better_ be, because I'm tired of this whole **horrible** side trip! I just want to get out of here and get a nice warm **shower**. And maybe then book a masseur for my feet." she stated groaning out the last part.

All four girls walked down the tunnel towards the light source, still being guided by Rae's flashlight app that was cast at the ground they treaded. The light it seemed, although bright, didn't extend very far out, making the device still necessary. The closer they got though, the more each noticed that the light seemed to be concentrated on the one place where it filled out the circular space of the tunnel. Even more, the nearer they came they still had to squint to try and pinpoint where it came from, but couldn't penetrate it with their eyes to see anything on the other side or determine any source around it that could explain it's being there. At last, they stood directly before it, but even at this close were left perplexed by its unexplainable presence.

"What is this thing?" Jenna wondered examining the glowing circle.

"You think we actually died in here and this is the gate to heaven?" Rae suggested more a joke than the statement it sounded like.

"It be hell if I ended up dead with you." Jenna commented with a sideways sneer, at which Rae gave one of her own.

"You guys think we should go through it? Maybe it's dangerous." Lisa apprehensively said watching closely the glow. Dawn, wanting to know for sure got within footsteps of the thing, then she slowly brought up her hand and began extending it towards the phenomenon. "Careful." Lisa cautioned seeing her friend make the action.

Hesitating only when her friend gave the warning, Dawn then preceded reaching her hand slowly closer until it protruded slightly into the shining whatever it was. She found that it tickled a little, and became transfixed as streaks of lighted floated away from the source, seeming to swirl around her contacting hand that held still where it was placed. Upon withdrawing her appendage, the light too withdrew back to the circle. Checking her hand, she felt no notable discomfort with it, and visually it seemed to be alright. No burns. No cuts. From that finding, she surmised it would be safe for them to go into the oddity.

"It won't hurt us. Let's go in." she suggested to the others showing them the unscathed hand she'd tested with.

"Are you sure you sure about that Dawn? Not that I don't trust you, I mean I've followed you this far," she indicated the area by waving an arm about the wet and drippy tunnel. "It's just that a big glowing weird thingy in the middle of a sewer…'ta, sounds a tad ify." Rae unsurely said her hand tilting in an uncertain gesture.

"Yeah, it is kind of weird. But for all we know it could be a bizarre sewer gases build up. Maybe when we get through on the other side there's nothing, or maybe somewhere over there we'll find a way out." sensibly thought out Dawn to the apprehensive blonde. "It's ok if you're scared, if it'll make you feel better I'll go check it out by myself first." She assured Rae. "But, stand back a little. When I'm over there I'll tell you what I see." she added motioning for the others to move away, as requested the other three took a few steps away from luminance. Then Dawn, with a face that held no signs of fear inhaled a breath through her nose and out her mouth, her eyes watering slightly from the still omnipresent stench, and without further ado, she marched head on into the strange light.

As she passed through Dawn's hands shot up to shield her eyes from the unbearable radiant intensity that filled them. The sensation she had experienced before on her hand grew somewhat stronger now that all her body was enveloped by the glow, it was now a full on tingling sensation. Not painful, but still odd on Dawn's form. Within a few seconds the tingle started to go away, yet Dawn still with a hand over her eyes and one reaching out in case she walked into something, suddenly got a dizzy feeling in her head and stumbled on her feet. Unable to retain her balance the girl dropped to the ground, the hand that had been outstretched now applied itself to her head trying to dispersing the wooziness. As it too passed, Dawn gradually opened her eyes again. A more average level of lighting entered them, allowing her to see where she had ended up. Rather than going into more dark length of tunnel, she found herself in a huge Japanese ornate homey environment, complete with the basic home amenities and electronics. The fact that she ended up in such a place after where she'd been before was not what caused Dawn the greatest surprise though, it was instead the fact that she knew _exactly_ what this place was. After all, she'd seen it in her favorite cartoon multiple times from the many episodes where it served as a background for about 4 seasons. Getting back to her feet Dawn looked around, her hands moving over her mouth as she literally let out an, "Awe…"

As her widened brown eyes took a long the time to merely survey the location, she walked jelly legged up first to the couch. She moved to smooth her hands over it and some of its various stains, then tried out patting the cushions and floating herself onto the seats. The feel of it was like other couches she'd known before, yet was still all too astonishing for her shaking hands to be touching at the moment. Once done with that, she moved from the couch to trace her fingers over a stone pillar, her eyes taking in the color as she poked around the cracks and crevices trying to remember all its small features. After being satisfied with that, she quickly jumped back down and went to kneel beside the pond that sat in the middle of the room. As trembling hand dipped in, she marveled it moving from side to side. The feeling the water as it flowed against her fingers and palm evoked a childish idea to splash the liquid, and mulling it over for a short second she did just that. Bending her hand in a scooping fashion she pulled back swiftly, causing a large amount to come up and soak her face and front of her clothes.

At the coldness of it she gasped, eyes getting wider and mouth gaping. That was because by doing so, she had assured herself that this was no dream and that she was not only imagining what was happening or where she was. She was awake, and it was definitely real! "The…the turtles' lair." She airily spoke again gawking at the structure of the household for the second time, only this time it had truly materialized to her fathoming mind. Standing again, water dripping from her lashes and chin, Dawn moved around the whole room, her wondrous eyes scanning for everything she remembered ever seeing and her hands touching nearly all the furniture and home appliances she passed by. She didn't even realize she was smiling so largely, nor did she notice when she began laughing out of enthralled excitement.

Her near hysteric exploration came to an abrupt halt though when from the corner of her eye she saw a moving silhouetted figure dash across the level above. Startled she let out a gasp whipping her head towards the place. She stood still, wanting to stay near the open center of the room so she wouldn't be caught off guard by the person popping out of one of the shadows or from behind a wide pillar to her sides. Her hands drifting away from her body, as if they were feeling the air in front of her, Dawn sought out the figure, turning around, and keeping an eye on her peripheral sides. She gasped again, this time seeing the figure from down below at her level, near one of the pillars nearest to her. "Hello?" she managed to call out in a tiny near whispered voice. The attempt she hoped would prompt an answer, or at the very least a response. She waited patiently, still looking about, but got no reply from the person. "Is…Is someone there?" she questioned again, and they again made no reply. But from the corner of her eye at the side of another pillar the shadow appeared once more. "W-who's there? Hello?" she more loudly asked a little worried.

They appeared after that near the couch, then, in no time they were at the opposite wall, then gliding to her left, then ducking away over to the mid-right, they were by the entry. She was having a hard time keeping up with the person seemingly everywhere at once. A sweat starting to collect at her brow, she was about to appeal to them again when all of a sudden, the shifting shadow seemed to simply…stop. The figure no longer emerged where she looked, out of this observation she made a guess that whoever it was had decided to leave her be. Elated by the notion she he dropped her outstretched hands back to her sides and with them, her guard. Convincing herself she was safe Dawn closed her eyes to de-stress, letting her head drop down to her chest and sit there for a few seconds as she took in the hush that fell over the room. Feeling more serene by doing so, she for no specific reason lifted her lids ever so slightly, but then, they shot open seeing something troubling on the ground. A moving shadow! One that crept in, soundlessly closer, until it began blending into hers. From it she was able to make out an arm, reaching for her, and in the other, a walking stick like object. As well, owner of the shadow held an unmistakable shape. That of a human-sized bipedal rat!

Whipping around, Dawn was just in time as the gray furred mutant swung the stick at her! She barely jumped back enough to be missed by it by mere centimeters as it whistled by her torso. But following the miss, the rat performed a proficient spinning back kick, knocking the girl off her feet and across the room. Although hurt by the force that struck her, Dawn was quick to recover as the ninja master leaped into the air about to bring the wooden weapon down on her. She rolled as fast as she could, being missed by the stick as it smacked loudly into the stone ground. She did about 4 extra revolutions before stopping herself to scramble to her feet. Once upright she put her arms up defensively and fearfully shouted to the rat, "Stop! Stop! I-I'm not here to hurt you!"

In all her years watching the show, never before had Dawn been even the slightest bit afraid of this person, Master Splinter, the benevolent and wise old master and father to the TMNT. Yet, being here, in this situation, knowing that to him she appeared as nothing other than an intruder that had broken into their domicile, whose true intentions for he and his children were unknown, she was made so scared that it made putting together words incredibly difficult. As this Splinter she saw standing before her, was one who she'd only before seen in such a state of aggression when his family's wellbeing was put at risk by an adversary. This Splinter was by far the most fearsome force she had ever had the unfortunate fate of crossing, for he was no feeble old man, er, rat mutant. He was a highly skilled practitioner and master of the ninja arts! The person who taught the legendary Ninja Turtles everything they know! She knew that he could without breaking a sweat turn her into a comatose heap of human pulp, and then some! Had she the choice, she would rather take her chances going back to the dark sewer from before and having a one on one against an angry sewer gator. At least with it she had perhaps a very slim fighting chance. Not so much with _the_ Hamato Splinter. An individual who she'd once seen pierce a **punching bag** with only a **wooden cane**, which also to her greater paled dread, was within his possession at the current.

"How did you find my home? What are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously of the alarmed girl. Dawn could only move her mouth much like a fish out of water, unable to create a vocal response. At this, Splinter cautiously took a step in her direction, and in her state of fright Dawn overreacted to the movement by running hastily for somewhere or something to give her cover. She scurried up to the elevated floor level and got behind a stone pillar, using it as a barrier between her and the currently daunting ninja master.

"I-I didn't mean to come down here." She told him sticking her head out on one of its sides, "Uh- well actually- I did mean to come down and into the sewer…b-but, I-I came in _here_ by mistake…Though technically, I did walk in here of my own free will…but I wasn't in the least bit expecting to end up in _the lair_. I-It's a lot like I'd seen before too, which was why I was poking around- no wait! Ah!" She yelled as she ducked around the back. When his hand popped up beside her face she slid around the side, and kept on doing so for a while as he circled the pillar trying to catch her. After going a couple times full square around the pillar she noticed that Splinter seemed to vanish from its sides. Not taking any chances he could be hiding again, she jumped down onto the lower floor level and backed away trying but not doing too well to explain herself once more. "I-I promise you Master Splinter, I'm not here on purpose! I was just looking for a way to get me and my friends to the surface level and back to where we're supposed to be. I'm _definitely_ not here because I'm a Purple Dragon or a Foot ninja if that's what you were thinking…I-I don't even like the Shredder, I'd rather _eat garbage _than work for a criminal like him…" she rambled not able to rationally choose her words. Her back then touched a soft body making her lurch forward and swivel around. What she saw only evoked more anxiety as Splinter had stealthily gotten behind her once more and pointed the tapered end of the stick to her chest, his features looking far more irritated than last she caught his gaze.

"Why is it you speak of the Shredder? How is it you know of him and the foot clan?" he interrogated right away. Had she not been so unnerved by the look she was getting Dawn would have smack herself for her blunder. She knew quite well that she was getting much too scatterbrained than was good for her health in this potentially dangerous and delicate situation, but could feel herself only becoming more so as his distrust in her was rising, something she could sense in the quickly tensing atmosphere.

"That's, uh…I…uh…they…he…um…" She babbled, losing the ability to construct even a single sentence.

"And how is it that you knew my name? I made no mention of it to you." He added on as she squirmed.

"N-name? Your, uh…uh…I…it, uh…you…"

"You also spoke of the Purple Dragons, are they involved in this? What of the others you accompanied here, where are they? And for what purpose would you have to venture down into the sewers? Just who are you young lady, and what is the meaning of your intrusion?" He had been advancing forward towards her as his questions got more demanding, the action causing Dawn to back up, keeping her eyes on the semi sharp tip of the stick rather than on the furious eyes of the rat starring her down.

Seeing him closing in with the weapon Dawn tried to stammer out another uncoordinated response. "I-I uh, I know that I must be sounding, _really_ suspicious." She gulped remembering again the punching bag scene from the episode, "O-obviously I'm **not** helping myself. So I can understand why you would be a-a little agitated with me. M-maybe it would be best if I go somewhere else until I can sort out my story, yeah? Nice to meet you, b-bye bye now…eep!" she peeped out as she took a chance to get out of the hostage situation by ducking under the stick running straight away towards the door. Splinter reacted immediately by flipping over her head and landing in her path, causing her to let out a yelp and her heart to skip a beat skidding in her to a stop.

"I am not amused Miss. I insist that you explain yourself before I truly become cross." He growled as she tried to get past him but was matched at each side step with him mirroring her movements.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm _seriously_ not trying get you mad. I'm just not thinking and saying all the wrong stuff by _mistake_! I'm not working for any of your enemies, and I wasn't planning to cause trouble for you or your sons. It's all just a h-huge misunderstanding!" she stammered out with a noted lack of composure.

Splinter only getting more aggravated reached out with lightning speed, grabbing onto her wrist and jerked her near to him and pressed the stick horizontally across her front so she was locked in his grasp. "You know of my sons as well? How did you become so aware of my family? Where is it you attained this information? What are your intentions here? No more stalling, tell me the **truth**?!" Splinter commanded loudly in her ear. Dawn in a fit from being restrained started kicking and struggling under the ninja master's grasp. Without meaning to she brought up one of her feet and stomped back down upon Splinters bare clawed foot. "Agh!" he shouted in pain letting loose his grip and giving her the chance to get out.

Standing a distance away Dawn slapped her hands over her mouth in mortification of what she'd done. "Oh! Oh my gosh I-I didn't mean to! I am _so_ s-sorry! It was an accident I swear! I wasn't trying to- Aah!" she screamed when he recovered and sent a kick towards her head that she dodged by a hair. Getting into a full combat mindset he kept on going at her, alternating his punches from high to mid and adding a kick every so often to keep her guessing.

Dawn having little if any physical idea about the fighting arts was only sometimes able to avoid or block a few of the hits while most of the others inflicted damage where they struck. She let out grunts and shouts when the painful blows got her from the torso up. "Stop! I **don't** want to fight you! I don't even know how to-" But she didn't finish as a punch got her good on the side of the face making her stumble back and against the bridge that stretched across the pond. She leaned over the rail and hissed clasping the sore spot with the hand on the same side. "_Hijole_ that was smart…" she groaned as the area stung making her shut her adjacent eye hurtfully.

"You do not fight back? Would it be true then that you are not here for a confrontation? Choose your words wisely as you answer Miss, for you have already tested my patience." Splinter distrustfully inquired of the injured girl as he dropped his offensive stance if only slightly.

Gaining some comfort that Splinter was going to allow her a little time to think more clearly through her senseless ramblings, Dawn took a few deep breaths. She attempted to settle her severely scrambled thoughts to better contemplate how she'd tell him rationally of her circumstance. When the words began to flow more easily in her mind, and clear sentences began arranging themselves, she opened her mouth, "…Yes Sir Master Splinter." she eased into it with respectful reply, "I can tell you absolutely, that I am not here for any kind of malicious purpose. I really did end up here, in your home, purely by mistake when I got lost with my companions in the sewer. We came down here to avoid some trouble we ran into on the surface, there were four of us, but others aren't with me currently. That's because they didn't come with me when I took the 'unusual detour' that lead me to this place. But you have nothing to worry about from any of us Sir. None of us want to nor have the ability to cause you harm, we're only high school girls visiting the city for a class trip nothing else." she said feeling that she was doing pretty good so far as Splinter still hadn't made a motion to get offensive again.

The confidence she gained from his lack of hostility helped her as she was about to get next to the more complicated part of her account. "So, that's in a nutshell why and how I'm here…Now in regard to how I know about you and your family, well…there's no easy way for me to really say it, but, maybe for starters I should say how exactly I'm not from here. And I don't just mean the city, or the state, or the even this region of the United States. I am, from a _completely_ different place, where knowledge of that specific kind is easy to come across and…um, view." She had to let out sigh before going on, "This might sound crazy when I say it Master Splinter, but I swear to you on the lives of my own intermediate family that it's completely true. Where I'm from is… another universe, or reality, entirely. One where the story of you and the turtles is a work of fiction that has been told through a number of different comics, cartoons, and movies since the 1980s." After getting out the news, she scrutinized Spliter's reaction. In his expression, she was able to tell that he, although confounded, didn't appear to fully disbelieve what was said. Rather, he gave her an attentive tilt of the head, so as to urge her to go on from her pause, which she complied with without hesitation.

"I myself, don't really know much of anything about the way the story is told in the comics or 1980s cartoon. But growing up I watched the 1990s movies and 2003 cartoon a lot, and saw the last movie more than once when it came out. This specific universe that we're in though, it's what fans of the…uh…story, call the '03 series. My best friend and I both like this one the most. We're very big fans of the turtles and you, and we re-watch many episodes just so we can see our favorite parts in your adventures. I've even memorized from start to finish your origin tale from how you'd remembered it when you told April O'Neil and the turtles." She supplied still watching his reaction.

Splinter seeming to process the incredible admission, rubbed his furry chin thoughtfully, not taking his eyes off of Dawn's as she starred back at him with one eye squinting and one fully open. Inwardly she was begging for the ninja rat to take it for truth, to not decide that she was delusional and completely insane and throw her out. It would be not only be incredibly disappointing, to be turned away by this person she'd known and admired as a character since she was little, but also quite frightening. She needed his trust, and assistance, without it she she wouldn't know what to do. She was as she knew it alone and no longer in her own reality. Somehow she'd been taken to a separate fictitious reality from her childhood and she would have nowhere to go and no one to turn to without ties of any kind here. She needed to make at least one ally in this other world, and she hoped that if should she catch at least on break today, that Splinter would become that one. "If that is so, then please, demonstrate for me." prompted the still wary ninja master to the hopeful eyed young girl regarding the origin tale.

"Uh, yes sir." She concurred with a small nod, looking to the side to refresh her memories, when it came to her Dawn then drew back to the awaiting face of Master Splinter.

(**A/N:** I did the entire backstory of the guys and Splinter here, so if you don't really care to hear it again or just don't want to imagine my OC talking for this long, then you can go ahead and skip this paragraph.) "In the beginning, you were once a regular rat that had been the pet of Hamato Yoshi, a great master ninja from Japan. You learned ninjutsu from him by mimicking his movements from your cage. Everything was nice and peaceful for a time, and you both were happy. Then, one day the foot ninja and the Shredder showed up, and there was a fight. Yoshi himself fought with honor, but they used dirty tactics and managed to overpower him. They were there because they thought your master was in league with the Shredders enemies, and they roughed him up trying to get the information they wanted out of him. When you saw this was happening, you tried to save Yoshi and by doing so scratched Hun in the face. But then Hun caught you and tossed you out the window, where you had to hang on while Shredder kept trying to force your Master to tell him what he wanted to hear. When Yoshi didn't, he was…um," she uncomfortably murmured not wanting to bring up the sore subject for Splinter. "...the Shredder…took Yoshi away." she tried to say not touching right on what happened, "and you became a street rat. Again though, as time passed, there came day came that caused a tremendous change in a lot of lives. You saw a traffic accident where there had been a boy at a crosswalk with a jar of four baby turtles, and a blind man who tried to cross the street because he didn't know the light turned green. A six wheeler, I think, was about to run him down, but a random pedestrian at the same crosswalk saw it and ran to push the man out of the way. On the way he accidentally made the boy drop his glass jar and it shattered on the street. The turtles were getting washed into a storm drain, when at the same time the truck's cargo door flew open as it swerved, tossing out a canister of green stuff that floated down where the turtles were being washed away. When they all landed at the bottom of the drain, the canister broke open splattering the glowing stuff all over them. You found them and took pity on the turtles, putting them in a coffee can and taking them with you to your burrow. The next morning when you woke up, you found out they'd doubled in size, and that you grew too, and also that you'd become more intelligent. They would follow you around all the time, but you didn't dare take them to the surface for their own safety. You were impressed by how their dexterity was improving, but got an even bigger shock from them when one of the little guys said your name. Soon after that they all started talking, and you began raising them and taught them the art of ninjutsu so they could be protect themselves from the dangers of the outside world. You got names for each of them from a Renaissance book you fished from a storm drain. They were, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo. And…well, that's pretty much it." she finished paraphrasing more than directly quoting or using great visual detail, although if he required her to do so, she could easily.

Splinter was in an inward state of absolute astonishment. This girl he'd never before met regaled these past occurrences so accurately, and with details that were so spot on it was as if she'd somehow been there! Splinter was positive that she could not have just luckily guessed the information. Nor did he believe she could have learned it from someone else. Very few people outside his family knew the tale, and even those who he'd told second hand weren't given such precise information about some of the small things she'd mentioned. She had pulled the memory forth from her mind as if it were her very own. The only way this could have been accomplished is by her having witnessed through some other source these events. Exactly how, he only had what he'd heard before to make any other alternate reference, as there was no other way he could explain this logically. Walking calmly over to Dawn who was standing expectantly by the bridge, Splinter gave the verdict as she listened uneasily.

"Your explanation, although extraordinary, I do not consider within the category of impossible." Her face perked up a bit, slowly encouraged by the start of his determination. Though she didn't release completely from her tensing, but instead kept listening until she wanted to hear everything before deciding to be either relieved or worried. "In my time, I have come to know far stranger things that would equal and even surpass in strangeness an alternate reality as the one you have claimed to be from. Such a relation to this world in fact, would give the answers to your peculiarly attained insight into the number of internal aspects you'd alluded to. As well, it would make sense of your not so subtle familiarity with my home." He turned from her, glancing about the room, she did the same while he went on, "I noticed as you wondered around, that you went to _specific_ objects and areas, much like you'd known previous what you sought out." He turned back to her, she too, still being fully attentive as he concluded. "While there is still much I will need to know of you before I am sure, for the time being I have decided to believe you." He told the awaiting girl. At the news, Dawn let out a small gasp, removing slowly the hand that was comforting the contusion on her face.

"F-for real? Oh thank you Master Splinter! You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that." She sighed out in relief leaning back to sit down on the bridge. "Uh- Whoa!" she shouted before making a huge 'splash'! Dawn hadn't realized until it was too late that she was on the side of the bridge and not in the middle. Her actions instead caused her to backwards fall into the water.

Splinter came quickly to her aid giving her a hand when she came up gasping and spitting the liquid that had invaded her mouth. "Are you alright Miss?" Splinter asked out of common courtesy.

"Other than being a little embarrassed," she paused to spit another accidental intake of water, "I'm good." Once helped back on dry land Dawn stood dripping wet with some of the sludge from earlier causing discoloration in the puddle that gathered at her feet. "I'll get this mess cleaned up so no one gets hurt. Could you just tell me where you keep the mop?" she offered seeing the spillage spread over the blue brick floor.

"Do not worry about it. I am the only one home at the moment. I can take care of it once you are dried. Come, I will get you a towel." Splinter assured her walking the soaked girl into the lair. He also at this time noticed the discoloration forming on her face. "And perhaps a compress as well."

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><p>AN: It took a while to make this one just right. Also college stuff made it hard to get back and work on it for a little, but here it is. Lemme know what ya think, and thanks to all youz that left reviews. Glad you like it so far, will keep making more when I have the time.


	5. The other Dawn

**_Disclaimer: _**_TMNT and it's original character are the property of Nickelodeon. I am in no way involved with or have any rights to the series other than being a fan and being the owner of my OCs. Don't sue. _"_

A/N: sorry this took so long. Ended up w/ lots of distractions and writers block for a while. thank you for being patient though, here's the latest chapter where my other three OCs reappear. Who knows what they find when they come out on the other side..read to find out. Enjoy, hope you like.

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><p>Chapter 5: The Other Dawn<p>

Lisa, Jenna, and Rae watched as Dawn without batting an eye crossed into the light. They waited until enough time had passed that she had gone all the way through before calling out to her. "Do you see anything?" Lisa asked at a volume that echoed off the tunnel walls, expecting fully to hear a reply soon after the question. All three were concerned when they didn't hear Dawn shout back.

"Hey Dawn! What do you see over there?" Rae then tried cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice. Her question repeated off the walls a few times once again before dying out. But still, Dawn said nothing. "Let's try it one more time together Lisa. Maybe the glowy-majiger is making it hard for her to hear us." Rae then suggested to the somewhat anxious friend who was staring intently at the mysterious shine that had swallowed her BFF.

"Ok." agreed Lisa. Both girls now, Rae counting down from three with her fingers, joined their voices in calling to the absent girl.

"DAWN!" At the sound of her name being spoken so vociferously, Jenna plugged her ears with her fingers while the shout swirled around in the air and rang out through the desolate tunnel system.

"Thanks for that. I've been meaning to go deaf for a while. You helped bring me just _that_ much closer to my dream." Jenna sarcastically remarked to the two.

"Will you stow it Jenna? We're trying to hear Dawn." Rae returned in an attempt to hush the complainer.

"_Ugh_, fine." The grey eyed teen reluctantly agreed. They all mutually closed their mouths and stayed perfectly quiet, giving one more chance for a reply. In her head, Jenna counted out a full 15 seconds, then spoke again. "Nothing. Looks like our captains' gone AWOL." cynically told Jenna to the other two.

"Yeah _right. _Maybe that's how your friends work, but Dawns' not like that. Something else is going on here. Come on Lisa, we're gonna do reconnaissance on our commander." Rae replied snidely to Jenna, then motioning for Lisa to follow her near the light. "But you can stay here if you want to Princess. Actually, I'd prefer it." She added with one more offensive poke to the girl. Then she and Lisa, just as Dawn had, walked into the glow.

"How's about _you_ stay here and- Hey! Don't walk away before I can tell you off!" Jenna complained as she was ignored in her retort. She folded her arms in a huff and stood glaring into the light, but when she came to notice that she was now alone in the sewers. Glancing around in the mostly darkness, it didn't take long before Jenna relented. "Uh! You dorks better wait for me. I am _not_ getting stuck in here alone." she grumbled stomping after the others into the brightness. Jenna was distracted from her bitter attitude when a tingling feeling spread across her entire body. She was more so caught off guard by the loss of her sight due to the sheer brilliance of the glow within only seconds of being inside.

The tingle went away slowly after a short while but her eyes, still unable to re-dilate, were useless in her new surroundings. She started to wobble a bit when disorientation flooded her head. She was only stopped from toppling over when she anchored herself to an unseen second person. "Watch it Jenna! You almost knocked me over. Ah, my head…" Rae said as the girl leaned on her. She and Lisa were starting to snap back from their own brush with vertigo, leaning against the wall as it worked out of their system. When all three managed to shake it off, they looked about to see where they'd ended up.

"_Great_, I get a head rush just so we can get to the other side and find more sewer waiting for us. I mean_ seriously_, what if that stuff was toxic? I had better not grow a tail or something." Jenna immediately began to criticize when they were met with the sight of pipes, dirty water, and concrete cylindrical walls and floor.

"No, this place is kinda different." Lisa contradicted. "There's lights on in here, and the smell, it's not so bad anymore."

"Oh yeah…good eye Lisa, and nose." complimented Rae as she turned off her flashlight and put her phone back in her shorts.

Jenna sniffed the air herself, "That _is_ much more bearable. Weird, you'd think a sewer would smell worse the further in you got." Upon turning back Jenna was perplexed. "Huh? Where'd that light thing go?" The other girls looked her same way, and were equally surprised that indeed, the mysterious entity had vanished, and behind them was more lighted tunnel, unlike they recalled. "This _is_ somewhere different."

"But, where the shell did we end up?" wondered Rae, "And if Dawn ended up here too, where'd she go?"

"Ah, Dawn! We gotta find her. She might've got turned around somewhere." Lisa brought up when her friends name was mentioned.

"If she thought it was the same sewer, then maybe she went looking around for us." Rae supposed.

"Please tell me you aren't saying we have to walk again, what if she comes back? Then we could be making it harder for her by moving." Jenna tried to persuade not wanting to make her feet to grow any sorer.

"We should at least try Jenna. If she's nearby then she'll hear us when we call for her. Then we can all regroup." Rae told her.

"Jenna, I know your feet hurt, but could you please try to go a little farther. I'll even give you a piggy back if it starts hurting really bad."

"As _awesome_ as that sounds, I'd rather stay put. You guys can go play rescue commandos if you want." Jenna haughtily declined.

"Um, but, I'd rather we not have anyone on their own. We already got separated from Dawn, and I don't really want to take the chance we all end up apart from each other down here. Please, can you just go on a little longer?" Lisa solicited of the most difficult of their group.

Jenna, in response to Lisa's unintentional puppy dog gaze, slightly softened her agitated expression and let out a sigh. "Fine. Let's go." She begrudgingly agreed.

"Thanks Jenna."

"But I'm only doing this because you don't crease me as much as highlighter head." She brushed off already moving into the now lighted tunnels.

"That would be 'Leonardo-blue highlighter head' to you pom-poms." Rae remarked as she too started walking with the others.

"Daaawn!" Lisa called out first off into the huge sewers.

"Daaaaaawn! Where you at!" then added Rae.

"Daaawn! Hey Daaaawn! Where are you!" then shouted Jenna. All three took turns or sometimes together shouted out to the missing female. Each cupping their hands to their mouths to ensure their voice traveled far into the long stretch of tunnel around them. They repeated this effort for a while, going deeper and deeper into the network as they did. Too distracted in their search, Jenna made no further complaints about her feet despite them getting worse with each step. Rae in her most focused state that was rarely ever seen, strained her voice ignoring the sloshing of her sopped shoes and wet socks. Lisa, determined to hear her friend reply, raised her voice as loudly as she could, getting all the more nervous each time she didn't hear Dawn's call back.

"Daaawn! Daaawn! Daaawny, are you out there? Daawny!"

"Dawny?" questioned Rae at the new term.

"It's a nickname, only her family and me call her that though." explained Lisa to the other two.

"Oh. Mind if I try it too?"

"Sure, if you guys want to." nodded Lisa

"Yeah, I'll give it a shot too." added Jenna.

After saying so Rae planted her feet firmly on the concrete floor, cleared her throat and again got her hands ready, "DAAAAWWWNY! WHERE ARRRRE YOOOUU?!" she unleashed down the expanse with a grand echo.

"Nice." Lisa said still hearing it go on for a while.

"Yup. I'm a good yeller, always have been. Ask my mom." Rae smiled as they then started walking again, now alternating between the girl's natural name and her nickname.

Elsewhere in the sewer tunnels, four other teens were strolling about. They had only recently returned from an excursion to the surface, and were on their way back to their home. Though unlike the other four pedestrians, these were boys, brothers in fact. But that was not all that made them unlike the separate trekkers. They were also without many typical human phenotypes, or even genotypes for that matter. The reason for this, was because these brothers, were not human, but mutants. Terrapin mutants, complete with large polygonal patterned shells.

"Dudes, I'm _starvin'_. When we get home, how's about we order a pizza?" suggested the orange masked one as his stomach let out a grumble.

"I could go for a slice or two, let's do it." agreed the red masked Brooklyn accented boy.

"Nah, I'm not too hungry. I think I'd rather run through my sword kata again instead." dismissed the blue masked brother.

"None for me either guys. I want to try and make some adjustments to the sewer slider as soon as I get back." The purple masked teen also declined.

"Aw what? You guys are nuts! How could you stand there and say no to a cheesy, meaty, saucey disk of doughy goodness?" questioned the orange wearing youth to other two in disbelief.

"Hey knock it off Mikey. You're startin' to make my mouth water." commented the red masked one patting his own plastron stomach.

"Maybe we could get one later, but I'm not aching for one right now." The oldest blue masked brother told his youngest brother.

"Well_ I_ am. Please Leo, with pepperonis, parmesan, and mushrooms on top." begged the orange clad one.

"Ah, _really_ Mikey. Come on bros let's get one now, if chuckle-head here keeps this up I won't last till later." The now hungry Brooklyn voiced brother tried to convince.

"I don't know..." considered the blue masked brother. "I'd rather it be a unanimous decision. So Donatello, you have the deciding vote." The orange wearing one looked expectantly towards his purple masked older brother.

"Like I said before guys, I'm more interested in working on the slider. I gotta say later for me." answered the deciding sibling.

"Huh?! Not cool dude. Your just gonna let me wither away so you can tinker with one of your machines?" dramatized the disheartened teen with disappointment.

"Hey I'm doing this so it'll be more efficient for all of us, and you could always get something from the fridge if you have the munchies." brushed off the intellectual in purple to his dissatisfied brother.

"But we don't have **pizza** in the fridge." The youngest whined.

"Then eat something we _do_ have. Sorry Mikey, but the motion has failed to pass." The oldest told the younger, ending the discussion.

"Ok…I guess." Griped the defeated teen as they then walked for a while in silence. That was until the younger caught something as they passed by a particular tunnel entrance. "What was that?" He asked aloud stopping beside tunnel. At his reaction the other three brothers who were ahead turned back to the younger.

"What was what?" the Brooklyn sounding brother questioned.

"I thought I heard someone. Down there." He told them pointing towards the tunnel. The others automatically turned to where he pointed.

"Your hunger must be making you hear things. I don't hear nothin'." The red wearing brother said.

"Me neither." added the purple masked teen.

"I'm tellin' you guys. I thought I heard…" the orange teen leaned in closer putting a hand to his ear. "There it is again!"

"Looks like we waited too long to feed Mikey. His body digested his brain." teased the red brother to the orange younger.

"I'm serious dudes. Someone's down there. Just listen for a minute." insisted the youngest brother to the other doubtful three. Giving him the benefit of a doubt, the others hushed and leaned in closer near the tunnel that was indicated.

"….Dawn…" they heard in a faint echo.

"You see! You see!" chanted the orange masked brother.

"You guys heard that too, right?" the blue teen inquired of the other two beside him.

"Yeah, it sounded like they said, Don." commented the Brooklyn sounding one.

"Not totally sure, maybe we're not hearing it right..." told the purple masked teen to the others. All again hushed as they waited to see if the echoing voices would speak again.

"….Dawn…Dawn…Dawny…" three different voices shouted in the distance. At this, the boy's eyes went wide, and three of the brothers looked in the direction of the dazed purple wearing fourth.

"You expectin' company bro?" the red masked one asked.

"Who're your friends Donatello? They sound like girls." The orange clad brother added.

"I don't know who it is." replied said brother in a bit of confusion.

"But they called out your name. They said Don _and_ Donny." The blue masked brother pointed out.

"Well, maybe they're talking about another Don." supposed the teen in purple.

"Yeah, another person named Don that also happens to be running around in the sewer. I'd say, not very likely." reasoned the youngest. Unable to counter the logic of his statement, the purple headed teen made no more further debate against it.

"I guess we should go meet your guest then." stated the oldest, already starting through the tunnel. He was followed by the other three soon as they went towards the echoing calls.

Back with the three girls, Jenna at last was unable to ignore how badly her feet were aching her. She had fallen behind the other two, and only continued lagging as it became unbearable. "Daaawny! Daawwn! Ah, ooh. Daawn! Daaawn! Ugh. Ah ouch! Daaawwn! Ugh! Stop stop! I can't go anymore guys." She at last had to say shuffling to the wall and sliding to the ground. She let out a hiss as she hurriedly took the still slightly wet heels off, then shoved them to the side. "Oh my gawd they _hurt_!" she whimpered laying her hands gently over them.

"_Ouch_, those are some pretty bad heel blisters. I gotta give you credit Princess, I didn't think you'd keep up for this far." commented Rae as the other two came to her in her distressed state. The girl only responded by letting out groans and the occasional yelp as she tried to apply pressure to the places where her feet hurt the most.

"That does look bad Jenna, it's _really_ red. Why don't we all take a break for a while." Lisa suggested to Rae in concern for the girl who seemed practically about to tear up.

"No, ah! You two go keep looking. I did _not_ put myself through this just so you could turn quitter. Agh!" argued Jenna to the other brunette.

"We can't! Like I told you before, I don't want any more of us to get separated. We can wait." Lisa disagreed.

"We won't be separated dweeb. You two will walk that way," she pointed sternly ahead to the rest of the long tunnel, "and I'll keep shouting while I sit here. Just don't lose track of my voice."

"Or, I could just carry you like I said I would. That way we won't have to leave you behind, why don't we just do that?" recalled Lisa offering to Jenna.

"Ah, no! I gotta be still for a little, I don't want to get jostled or get dropped. I'm staying _right here_, and you guys had **better** come back for me." She told them with a warning tone.

"Of course, we won't leave a man, um, girl, behind. You earned your leave trooper." Rae saluted still playing with the military associated terms and gestures.

At the motion Jenna only rolled her eyes, "Whatever soldier girl, just go away and let me realign my heel. Ow!" she yelped when she touched the sore ball of her foot.

"Ok, but we won't go too far." Lisa reluctantly agreed.

"Move out!" directed Rae pointing an arm forward.

"Such a loser…" mumbled Jenna as she stayed there behind while the two walked away. Jenna herself remained sitting in a dimmer part of the tunnel, one of the places where there were no lights for an expanse. Though she was not afraid, as she was still able to see where there was light down a ways away from the way they'd come, and the other way she still had a view of the other girls as they traveled calling out for the still missing fourth. As they got far enough Jenna resumed her own efforts in beckoning the girl, mostly just to do as planned and have them keep tabs on her location. "Daawn! Daaawwwnny!" she yelled out while trying to relax kneading carefully her tender foot tissue. "Daawwn! Daaawwny! Daaawny we're here! Daaaawwwn!" she took pauses in her shouts to allow for any response to come. She followed the recurring cycle multiple times over the course of about 10 minutes hoping to reach the girl. As well she took brief moments for the now more distant voices of the separate pair.

"Daaawwwn! Daawwn! Daawwwny! Where are you?!" she took a second to let out a few gripes, trying not to poke around the blisters on both heels. She attempted to her soles flat on the cold concrete so as to have an ice-pack like feel on them. "Ahh, ha." She hissed out at the pressure unintentionally applied on the bottom of her foot. When it passed she then went back to the routine, "Daaawwn! Daaawwny!" she took in a breath as she restrained another hiss. "Daaawwwny! Daaawwwwn! Hurry up Dawn! Come out already! Where the **heck** are you?!" she hollered with a burst of frustration.

"I'm right here." Someone replied from just a few feet away. Upon whipping around and seeing four shadowy figures emerge from a connecting tunnel, Jenna immediately let out a shriek that echoed out and reached the ears of her classmates.

"Jenna!" worriedly said Lisa as her and Rae turned back towards the sound. They ran as fast as their feet could take them towards the girl.

"Jenna what's wrong?!" called out Rae to the girl in concern. Upon getting back to where they'd left her they found Jenna on her feet and slugging a number of unknown assailants with her purse, all the time letting out continued screams and shouts of fear. All four shadowed figures let out injured sounds of their own each time the purse was slugged upon their heads and protruding backs.

"Oh shell! What's going on?!" Rae asked when they came upon the scene. Stopping in her walloping Jenna turned to the two and with wide frightened eyes tried to answer them.

"I-I-I got ambushed! There's someone else down here!" she sputtered out.

"Yeah, and we're still 'ere." said one of the unknowns groaning along with the other three as they tried to get up, rubbing their heads. "Nice friends you got here Donnie. Say, how's about next time you invite 'um over, they beat us with lead pipes instead of bricks." A Brooklyn accented one told one of his comrades.

"I told you. They know _me_, I don't know _them_, Ow." replied the aching teen to his brother. The brother furthest in front took a step closer the girls, the action of trying to back up in response caused Jenna to fall on her butt, no longer able to stand on her still agitated feet. At the same time, Rae had pulled out her phone and shined the very bright LED flashlight into the boys eyes, with the intention of blinding them, but instead when the light shone over them, the three girls were in a state of complete and utter astonishment.

"Haa…." got out Jenna as she gaped on the ground.

"They…they…green…" was all Lisa could muster.

"Maa…nah…t-tuu…" Rae babbled.

The four males they stared at were all adorning multicolored ninja masks and the large lumps that took up their whole backs were revealed to be turtle shells. Each of them as well toted traditional Japanese weapons of wood and steel. Each had three fingers on each hand, and lacked certain human features such as ears, noses, and hair of any kind.

When it registered at last who they were standing before, Rae in a fangirlish burst of energy let out a high pitched scream balling her fist under her chin. Although this one was not out of fear. But instead, out of total uncontrollable excitement. Everyone had to cover their hearing accouterments from how shrill and thunderous the noise she made was.

"Yep. That's about the reaction we usually get." The red wearing teen said when the girl finally stopped.

"You! You guys! Your all- you're- Lisa are you freaking seeing this?!" She asked while frenziedly shaking the girl. "It's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! The TMNT! Oh wow! Donnie! And Leo! Mikey and Raph! They- right here! And- we- I'm- Ninjas, haaa..." she sighed when she dropped to the ground in a fainted heap, her legs going up in the air before plopping with the rest of her to the ground.

"Rae?" Lisa asked as the girl laid there a smile still on her unconscious face. She then turned to the boys in front of her, who stared back at her and the only other conscious members of her party questioningly. "Uh, ahhh, h-hi." she nervously greeted with a bending finger wave to the males. "Y-you're turtles." After saying so Lisa smacked herself over the head. Unbelieving of the blatantly obvious statement she chose to use in the presence of her longtime favorite cartoon heroes.

"Yes, we are. And you're random teenage girls that are trespassing in the New York sewers." The one in blue said in response. "Would you mind telling us who you are and how you're acquainted with my brother?" He requested.

"Uh…well…you uh, you guys are like…uh…" Lisa tried to say but didn't have the capacity to form a proper sentence staring face to face with her all time number one ninja turtle Leonardo.

"Hey Lisa, in case you didn't notice one of them has swords. Try using coherent sentences so we don't get hacked up into sushi." interjected Jenna to the girl.

"Uh, wha? Leonardo wouldn't hurt us Jenna." She told the girl getting pulled back from her stupor. "But, I am sorry I'm acting weird. It's just that, you guys are _so_ **awesome**." she said to the guys with some giggles from giddiness. "I'm a-a big, no HUGE fan of all you. And, you're my favorite Leonardo, I think bushido is way cool." She again chuckled as she addressed him.

"Fan of us? I don't understand. And you still didn't explain how you know Don. Weren't you calling for him just now?" Leonardo again asked.

"Huh?...Oh. Oh! No, we weren't calling your Don. We were looking for our friend, D-a-w-n, Dawn. There's supposed to be four of us. We got into some trouble after we missed a bus. Then we ended up down here, er, in a sewer. But then she went into a bright light, and we tried to follow her but when we got here we couldn't find her. We've been yelling her name so we could look for her." She explained not so clearly to the guys. "She's been gone for a while. I'm getting kinda worried. I hope she's alright." Lisa muttered off to the side mostly to herself thinking of Dawn. Then she let out a gasp and faced the boys again, putting her hands into a pleading clasp, "You guys know practically everything about the sewers! I know that we just met and you have lots of questions, I have some too, but first would you please please _please_ help me find her? If anyone can do it it's you guys! Let's see, she's about two inches shorter than me," she began to describe her friend using her hand to show the distance from the ground, "with black hair in a braid. She's African American, and was wearing a yellow blouse with jean pants and sneakers. Hold on, I think I have a picture!"

She was about to produce her cell phone from her bag when she was stopped by Donatello. "Hold on there. We haven't exactly said yes yet."

She looked at them, here features already starting to quiver. "But…but you have to help us. She's my best friend, I don't want something to happen to her.." Lisa uttered in a slightly trembling voice to the other Don.

"Awe come on bro. Have a heart, a girl lost down here could get into some serious trouble." Mikey reasoned to his bother. "We gotta help them."

"I'm with Mikey here. I mean just look at um," Raph agreed motioning to the females. "They wouldn't last much longer down here like this either."

"Right then," Leo spoke. "We're gonna help find this Dawn for you. But we'll be the ones to look for her. You three are gonna go somewhere safe till we can locate your friend."

"You don't mean." Don commented.

"It wouldn't be the best idea to drop them off on the surface with one of them out cold and another who apparently can't even walk." Leo stated.

"You mean...you're taking us to the.." Lisa couldn't even say it from the sheer excitement she was overflowing with.

"Read you loud and clear bro." Raph nodded and went over to Rae's unconscious form and scooped her up. "Some one wanna get doll face over de're." He commented.

"Leave her to me dude! Your carriage my lady." Mikey bowed jokingly to her and lifted Jenna.

"Wha-" she sputtered for a second before putting her arms around his neck to stay secure. "Oh um, thanks Mike." she said slightly uneasy but calm under his grasp.

"Thank you again Leonardo." bowed Lisa.

"We'll do everything we can to find her." He bowed back. "Don. Me and you will start searching, you two join us after they get to the lair safely."

"Catch you later bros." Mikey waved as the four of them parted into pairs. Lisa followed close behind the two of them and her other companions closely, far more hopeful now they'd recover their own Fearless Leader soon...

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><p>AN: did my best to stay true to the personalities of the turtles. This one ended up a little long haha. Hope you liked thank you for reading.


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